2 dead in midair collision southeast of Winnipeg were student pilots, flight school owner says
Posted July 8, 2025 11:01 am.
Last Updated July 8, 2025 3:18 pm.
The owner of a flight school in southern Manitoba says two pilots killed in a midair collision were student pilots.
Adam Penner with Harv’s Air says the students, who have not been identified, were practising takeoffs and landings when they attempted to land the two planes at the same time and crashed near a landing strip south of Steinbach.
The collision left the planes wrecked in a field on private property, roughly 400 metres from the runway.
“There was some sort of communication issue where they weren’t seeing each other,” Penner said.
“They were on approach and they collided somewhere on the approach.”
RCMP could not confirm the victims’ identities during an afternoon press conference.
“I don’t have that information,” said Manitoba RCMP Cpl. Melanie Roussel. “There’s really limited information right now.”
Mounties say the small, single-engine planes collided before 8:45 a.m. in the Rural Municipality of Hanover, west of Highway 12.
They say the pilots were pronounced dead at the scene, and there were no passengers.
The planes — a two-seater Cessna 152 and a four-seater Cessna 172 — are commonly used in flight schools. The student pilots were doing an exercise in which they would fly a rectangular pattern, land briefly and roll down the runway before taking off again, Penner said.
Mohamed Shahin, an instructor at the school, said he knew the students and the tragedy has hit hard.
“It’s been a very, very heartbreaking morning and everyone is in shock,” he said.
“No one has words. It’s very difficult to speak.”
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has been notified and will look into what happened.
Roussel said it was “too early” to talk about the possibility of criminal charges.
Chrystia Freeland, the federal minister of transport, expressed condolences on social media.
“The Transportation Safety Board is investigating and I’ve appointed a minister’s observer to closely monitor their progress,” Freeland posted on X.
Authorities say RCMP, the fire department and emergency medical services attended and located the wreckage.
“This is still evolving,” said Roussel. “The members are still on scene, so the investigation is ongoing.”
There have been 45 mid-air collisions in Canada reported to the safety board since 1990, a board spokesman said. Mid-air collisions of two aircraft are rare, accounting for less than one per cent of air accidents in Canadian airspace.
Steinbach is about 50 kilometres from Winnipeg.
